Background
Orvil Dryfoos was born on November 8, 1912, in New York City. He was the son of Jack A. Dryfoos, a textile merchant, and of Florence Levi.
Orvil Dryfoos was born on November 8, 1912, in New York City. He was the son of Jack A. Dryfoos, a textile merchant, and of Florence Levi.
Dryfoos attended the Horace Mann School and was a sociology major at Dartmouth College, from which he graduated with the B. A. in 1934.
Soon after graduation Dryfoos joined Asiel and Company, a Wall Street brokerage firm.
Despite his ownership of a seat on the New York Stock Exchange, Dryfoos was persuaded to give up his career on Wall Street.
On January 2, 1942, he began working as a cub reporter on the Times. An attempt to enter the armed services after the outbreak of World War II was thwarted when his physical examination revealed a heart defect (he had suffered from rheumatic fever as a child). Thereafter Dryfoos dedicated himself to newspaper publishing.
Guided by the counsel of his father-in-law, he served an apprenticeship in the newsroom as both a legman for more experienced reporters and as a makeup editor. Sulzberger himself had been brought to the Times as a son-in-law of Adolph S. Ochs and was determined that Dryfoos would not undergo the humiliation he had experienced as a stern father-in-law's understudy.
Dryfoos understood the relationship and sought to imitate Sulzberger's fair-mindedness by insisting that he be treated as a Times employee rather than a member of the Ochs-Sulzberger dynasty.
In 1943, Dryfoos left the newsroom to become assistant to the publisher. He learned all phases of the growing publishing empire, which included paper mills, a radio station, and subsidiary activities that made use of his knowledge of financialdealings. His associates remarked upon his informal approach, an unpretentious eagerness to absorb information, and his unfailing kindness toward subordinates.
In 1955, Dryfoos succeeded Julius Ochs Adler as vice-president of the Times and became a member of the board of directors. Three years later he was elevated to the presidency of the Times. During this period Sulzberger called Dryfoos into the decision-making process at the newspaper, and some important matters were left to his judgment.
At the retirement of Sulzberger on April 25, 1961, Dryfoos succeeded him as publisher of the Times. Dryfoos sought to maintain Adolph Ochs's general rules stressing news coverage, accurate reporting, and sound fiscal policies. A feature of the latter policy was the continued plowing back of profits into the Times even as labor, paper, and circulation costs rose.
The news staff under Dryfoos was headed by Turner Catledge, and included a galaxy of reporters, critics, and reviewers with national reputations. Dryfoos made the decision to publish a western edition of the Times, which first appeared on October 1, 1962.
Meanwhile, negotiations with the New York printers' union were under way, and there was talk of the first strike by the shop workers since 1883. After a series of fruitless contract discussions, the strike began on December 8, 1962. It continued for 114 days. Dryfoos left the principal task of bargaining to his general manager, Amory Bradford. He was under great personal strain as the staff at the Times was reduced from nearly 5, 000 to a token force of 900. Dismayed by the events that halted production on the Times and six other New York daily newspapers, Dryfoos directed the Times-owned radio station, WQXR, to double its newscast time. He stayed in the background during contract negotiations (the printers feared automation and wanted considerably more than the $141 average weekly wage), but went to his office every day and wrote personal letters to employees in a show of concern over their morale. He ordered a syndicated column by columnist James Reston killed because of its attack on the union president. He urged the negotiators to stay at the bargaining table, despite the apparent hostility between the union executives and the representatives of the Times. When the strike finally ended on March 31, 1963, a story was prepared that was somewhat critical of the negotiating team of the Times. Bradford asked that the story be altered, but Dryfoos backed his reporter and the story was printed.
Fatigued by the strike, Dryfoos soon left for a vacation in Puerto Rico. There he became ill and was flown back to New York City, where he died.
Staff members who worked closely with Dryfoos found that he was acutely conscious of his circumstances, and thus often deferred to others even though his own judgment was valid.
Quotes from others about the person
"He wore his life away worrying about other people. " - James Reston
Dryfoos was married to Marian Effie Sulzberger on July 8, 1941; they had three children. His wife was the eldest daughter of Arthur Hays Sulzberger and Iphigene Ochs, who held a controlling interest in the New York Times.